The Estonian experience—how to inspire social work students to undertake research?

Abstract

The relationship between research and practice is complex. Social work educators have responsibility for knowledge creation (through research), as well as using research in their teaching. For Estonia and its people, social work is one of the vitally important fields that had to be built up from almost nothing since independence was regained in 1991. Such concepts as social work and social worker were rediscovered in Estonia. Tartu University started with a curriculum for social workers in 1992 that was at Masters level. The focus of this paper is on the background of social work education in Estonia and how social work research has become more important in social work curricula.

Keywords:

• Estonia
• Social Work
• Research
• Education

Notes

1. In Estonia we mean higher education at level BA or MSW.